“Wake up! Wake up, now!”

McKenzie rubbed his beating forehead as he groggily arose from his slumber. Somebody was yelling at him, a captain of the guard. Who had the balls? “I vat ur bdge n-n-nmb.” Wow, maybe he had drunk a little too much last night.

He shuddered as a cool breeze brushed his shoulders. Through blurry eyes he looked at his lightly tanned arms, strange as they should have been covered in mail. In fact, he could feel it on his back, his legs, and his…

“Awake now, aren’t ya?”

Behind him he could hear another voice, this time a familiar one, one that he was too hungover to deal with right now. Robbie, a repeat troublemaker amongst members of the guard. He was recently demoted to street duty by nonother than McKenzie himself.

“Ro… ro…bee! Wha- am I?” McKenzie swore in his head, after today no more drinks after nine… ten.

The guard McKenzie knew, Robbie, circled around him just out of sight. When McKenzie tried to move his body to look at Robbie again, he noticed that he was attached to something.

“Wha?”

McKenzie had finally noticed. He was entirely naked, save for some very sticky taped tied tightly across his body and backside, that also wrapped him around the back of the statue of Sheildon’s first Chancellor. He was a good bit taller than the statue, so he was lazily leaned over it, putting him in quite the risqué position.

McKenzie was perplexed, how in Tor’s name did he get into this position? The kid!

“D-Down.” His words were slurred, but he was starting to gain control of his body, unfortunately he was still too weak to free himself from his indecent position.

“Yeah, you’re definitely coming down.” Robbie said before ripping McKenzie from the statue, slamming him against the floor.

“-Bie you… hole! -report… this!” cried McKenzie. It was only around a five-foot fall, but he had landed directly on his head, further adding to his extreme headache.

Robbie sat on top of McKenzie, wrestling his arms behind him, before putting handcuffs on his arms. “-op! Stop! Cap- McKenzie… Stop!” McKenzie couldn’t believe this, sure he was caught in a very precarious situation, but he was still a captain. He should at least be able to explain himself first.

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“I really don’t know what happened to you last night, but I wish I was there.”

“What is he talking about?” McKenzie thought.

It was only as he passed a glass window that he fully realized what was going on. Not only was he nude, but his entire faced was caked in make-up with some letters written on his face. His once prided facial hair was badly shaven off, and his beautiful silky head of hair was rashly cut and colored pink.

“N…No… No! No!” McKenzie started to struggle against his restraints, earning him a quick blow to the back of the head.

“McKenzie, me! I am… Captain McKenzie!” he shouted. That caught Robbie’s attention, this guy did have a similar build and the captain was known for his drinking. Robbie took a good hard look at McKenzie’s face and read what as written, Best Life, and knew there was no way this was the captain.

“Alright then captain, let’s get you to the station then.” McKenzie continued to fruitlessly struggle, realizing that Robbie didn’t believe him.

Near them another guard passed by, trying, but mostly failing, to hold his laughter in. “Sometimes I amaze even myself.” Step one of the plan went off without a hitch, a bad omen to be sure, but Darius could live with that.

With McKenzie in holding, Darius had maybe a day before he was released. Compared to some of his other jobs, this was a pretty healthy time limit. Before he could continue, Darius needed to complete a couple last minute preparations.

First, was the fairly large satchel Darius commonly wore on his hip, one that he affectionately called his gadget pack. Inside, Darius scrambled around until he found what he needed, his disguise kit.

Little more than some sewing tools and makeup, the disguise kit was probably the oldest among all of Darius’s gadgets. Although a fairly simple tool, it has served Darius well his entire life.

Like now, McKenzie also had dark skin, but still a bit lighter than his own. With a bit of foundation, that problem was easily solved. McKenzie also carried a long scar over his left eye, in case Darius lost his helmet, such a recognizable trait would have instantly outed him if he didn’t replicate it. Luckily, they both already had the same dark brown eye color. Minor details like cuts or bruises could be easily explained away, Darius just had to debate whether or not to change his hair.

“It’s for the job.”

Content with the changes, he moved onto the next step, impersonating the voice and mannerisms of someone he’s only talked to once.

“HeLLO, I aM McKENZIE, HELLo I am McKenzIE, Hello I am McKenzie.” After an hour of vocal exercises, Darius managed to replicate his voice fairly closely.

Between McKenzie’s yelling from this morning and the drunken slurs Darius heard from time to time when he stalked McKenzie at Lucky’s, he’d say he did a pretty good impression. He just hoped the others would think the same.

No time to worry about that that with the day or two before McKenzie was released. Though makeup he’d put on McKenzie wasn’t coming off any time soon considering he used permanent ink. Once McKenzie was loose, Darius didn’t want to be the person caught wearing his clothes.